How You Are Like The Phoenix

Winter time is coming to a close, and the world is beginning to prepare itself for the arrival of spring. Spring is all about rebirth. It reminds me of the mythical bird, the phoenix. This beautiful bird lives it life until it starts to lose it feathers, it loses its beauty and then it uses the power of the sun to catch himself on fire before it dies. This pile of ashes appears as if it is the end of the bird, but then something wonderful and amazing happens, it rises from the ashes and lives again. It does this over and over again. This is the ultimate representation of the rebirth of the body, mind, and soul, that unleashes itself when the spirit is set free from its shackles (those things that bind).

We all are like the phoenix. I don’t mean that we can literally die and then be reborn again (though there are some who believe this is possible), but we can lose parts of ourselves, become a shell of who we are and then allow the power of those things to bury us (as the ashes buries the phoenix). So, let’s talk a little bit about this part of the life of the phoenix.

There are things in our lives that we experience that can take away from who we are, traumatic experiences are perfect examples of that. I won’t go into all the ways that we can experience trauma because each of us experience life from different viewpoints and what might be traumatic for me may not be for you. But there’s not just trauma that takes away from who we are there are things that undermine your confidence and start eroding your self-esteem until we feel like a nothing. We allow these things to have power to destroy us and bury us under the ashes of defeat. This is not a fun place to be and some have nothing left to push themselves up and unbury themselves. So, what does one do at this point and time?

Some will choose to remain there assuming they deserve to be there (the consequence of no self-esteem and confidence). Others will have a desire to try to unbury themselves by pushing the negative messages aside and trying to do something, anything. Some will seek out help (like a transformation specialist like myself) and learn some skills to start digging themselves out from underneath their ashes.

One of the hardest things for humans to do when they find themselves needing help (buried under the ashes) is seek help. Most of us feel like we HAVE to do it all alone. If you have probably heard that God will not give us more than we can bear, so you think, “Well, if I’m here then I must be able to bear this so I need to figure out how to do it all by myself.” We forget that He didn’t say that He wouldn’t give us more than we can bear ALONE, after all life isn’t easy to go through alone. That is why God gives us people in our lives, family, friends, church members, neighbors, etc. He didn’t put us here on this earth and then leave us out in the desert or wilderness to face it alone. So, it stands to reason that when we face something difficult that He would want us to turn to each other for help.

We could relate phoenix for their other abilities. This mythical bird’s tears have healing powers. Just as we release our tears it cleanses it our heart and starts to heal the injury to our heart, soul, mind, whatever. Tears contain natural antibacterial agents, and provide a therapeutic release, reducing heart rate and breathing for a calmer you.

Then there is the song of the phoenix which can provide courage. Have you ever heard the saying, “music sooths the savage beast”? In the case of phoenix not only is the beast calmed but it replaces our negative feelings with courage. Courage to do what we need to do to dig ourselves out from underneath our ashes. The hard part here is listening for the song of the phoenix (which is the voices of people encouraging us upwards; uplifting words we might read from a poem or scripture, and sometime literally a song, or music, that we hear that inspires us upwards). Once we hear that song we need to react immediately before we bury that courage in the ashes with us. Feeling that courage requires immediate action, even if it’s just a phone call, text, or email to someone with the knowledge to help us (like a transition specialist).

The phoenix is strong and durable. What? How can that be if he is strong how come he turns to ashes? In the case of the phoenix his strength is knowing that he needs to change. This is why he uses the power of the sun to catch himself on fire. This is something he chooses to do. His first step to rebirth. Just like us, we can’t get ourselves out of our ashes without first being in them, otherwise we don’t realize that we are even in the ashes. That’s the meaning of the quote at the end of my posts: “You can’t rise from your circumstances without being in them first, and you can’t be in them if you don’t allow yourself to feel through them.” The durable part is, of course, rising out of the ashes. We too are durable. Think about all the things that you have survived in your lifetime. Talk about durable. That doesn’t mean that your life was perfect until now, it just means that you heard the song of the phoenix, tapped into the courage it provided, gathered your strength, and dug yourself out.

What are the shackles that bind you? The things that are causing you to lose your feathers (parts of yourself) and your beauty (causing you to become a shell of who you really are) and may be allowing the power of those things to bury you? Family issues, feeling alone, health issues, weight issues, a disconnect with God (or that which is greater than yourself), etc.?

It’s time for you to unleash your inner power? But how? Step one is to identify what your shackles are. Step two is to contact Coach Boots who is here to help you embrace the power of renewal and rise above your challenges.

Call me, Boots at (505) 644-3950, or email me at boots.transformsme@gmail.com


Believe you can
Overcome
Obstacles and experience
Transformational
Success

“You can’t rise from your circumstances without being in them first, and you can’t be in them if you don’t allow yourself to feel through them.”
                                        Unknown

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